Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) established
The University of Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe Research Centre have set up the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The signing of the cooperation agreement is the first milestone on the way to a total merger which both partners hope will eventually become reality. From 1st January 2008, the two partners will group their organisation structures and establish interdisciplinary KIT centres and KIT departments that will use the partners’ mutual infrastructures, including large pieces of research equipment. They will also pursue joint recruitment policies.
“With the establishment of KIT, two equal partners have created excellent prospects for the future. Both institutions carry out excellent scientific work and have an excellent reputation. It is through the establishment of KIT that we reach the critical mass necessary for being on the same level as top international institutions,” said the rector of Karlsruhe University, Professor Horst Hippler. A development that began with the candidacy in the German government’s excellence initiative, which led to Karlsruhe University being elected as one of three elite universities in Germany, has now been sealed with the signatures of the partners involved.
Professor Umbach and Professor Hippler (Photo: KIT)
“The foundation of KIT will enable us to take a key pioneering role in Germany’s and potentially also in Europe’s research and education landscape,” affirmed Professor Eberhard Umbach, chairman of the executive board of the Karlsruhe Research Centre. “If everything goes to plan, we will be able to turn the KIT into an institution that will combine the advantages of a research-based university with the advantages of a big multithematic research centre,” said Umbach. The foundation treaty governs the process of increasing mutual cooperation up to the partners’ declared aim of a complete merger.
The merger of a university and a research institution in the Helmholtz Society goes far beyond any previous science cooperation. “If German science wants to be internationally competitive, then we have to find completely new ways for research institutions and universities to work in cooperation with each other,” said Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan, highlighting the KIT as a role model for other German science locations.
Source: KIT - 13.12.2007